Archive for November, 2011

Pennsylvania will be a vital swing state in the upcoming presidential election. As President Obama visited Scranton, where unemployment is soaring, Chip Reid spoke with residents about the Obama’s chances of winning them over.

The Republican Party is good at one thing…. Protecting the 1%. They cry class warfare when anyone challenges that sector of American‘s, but in reality Class Warfare is a war that the 99% didn’t start. Many of us were oblivious to the fact that there was even a war to begin with, but as we look back in history, we can clearly see the evidence of this growing conflict. Once again, the 1% has chosen a new champion, in this 2012 Round-Robin presidential campaign, this time it’s Newt Gingrich, a lifelong politician, who has answered their call. Newt Gingrich is firmly in the 1%, and as a member of that club, he quickly rises to their defense.

AN IRANIAN nuclear facility has been hit by a huge explosion, the second such blast in a month, prompting speculation that Tehran‘s military and atomic sites are under attack.

Satellite imagery seen by The Times confirmed that a blast that rocked the city of Isfahan on Monday struck the uranium enrichment facility there, despite denials by Tehran.

The images clearly showed billowing smoke and destruction, negating Iranian claims yesterday that no such explosion had taken place. Israeli intelligence officials told The Times that there was “no doubt” that the blast struck the nuclear facilities at Isfahan and that it was “no accident”.

The explosion at Iran’s third-largest city came as satellite images emerged of the damage caused by one at a military base outside Tehran two weeks ago that killed about 30 members of the Revolutionary Guard, including General Hassan Moghaddam, the head of the Iranian missile defence program.

Iran claimed that the Tehran explosion occurred during testing on a new weapons system designed to strike at Israel. But several Israeli officials have confirmed that the blast was intentional and part of an effort to target Iran’s nuclear weapons program.

On Monday, Isfahan residents reported a blast that shook tower blocks in the city at about 2.40pm and seeing a cloud of smoke rising over the nuclear facility on the edge of the city.

“This caused damage to the facilities in Isfahan, particularly to the elements we believe were involved in storage of raw materials,” said one military intelligence source.

He would not confirm or deny Israel’s involvement in the blast, instead saying that there were “many different parties looking to sabotage, stop or coerce Iran into stopping its nuclear weapons program”.

Iran went into frantic denial yesterday as news of the explosion at Isfahan emerged. Alireza Zaker-Isfahani, the city’s governor, claimed that the blast had been caused by a military exercise in the area but state-owned agencies in Tehran soon removed this story and issued a government denial that any explosion had taken place at all.

On Monday, Dan Meridor. the Israeli Intelligence Minister, said: “There are countries who impose economic sanctions and there are countries who act in other ways in dealing with the Iranian nuclear threat.”

Major-General Giora Eiland, Israel’s former director of national security, told Israel’s army radio that the Isfahan blast was no accident. “There aren’t many coincidences, and when there are so many events there is probably some sort of guiding hand, though perhaps it’s the hand of God,” he said.

A former Israeli intelligence official cited at least two other explosions that have “successfully neutralised” Iranian bases associated with the Shahab-3, the medium-range missile that could be adapted to carry a nuclear warhead. “This is something everyone in the West wanted to see happen,” he added.

Iran has repeatedly denied the existence of a nuclear weapons program, and strongly condemned the International Atomic Energy Agency‘s report last month that accused Iran of trying to build a nuclear weapon

Joe Kapp and Angelo Mosca‘s feud goes back 48 years. In 1963 Mosca knocked Kapp’s teammate out of a title game with a concussion, and this led to a loss for the British Columbia Lions. Kapp and Mosca attended a football fundraiser recently, where the two men, both in their mid-70s, remembered just how much they hate each other and ended up battling it out, once again.

One of my favorite political satirist is Lee Camp. Imagine my surprise the other day when PBS hosted a segment of Newsnite that pitted Lee Camp against none other than the Tea Party poster girl Sharon Angle, discussing the 2012 Presidential race.

The Pakistani government is demanding the U.S. evacuate a key air base after an apparent NATO blunder that killed 25 Pakistani soldiers. Whit Johnson reports on the attack and what Pakistan‘s ultimatum means for U.S. forces in the region.

With More than 50,000 people dead in Mexico alone, The War on Drugs has been an utter failure. In yet another gruesome find in Mexico’s drug war, 26 bodies have been found inside vehicles parked on one of the busiest streets in Guadalajara.
Experts believe the killings, coming one day after 16 burned bodies were found in a different city, suggest an escalating blood feud between rival drug gangs.